Justin Rose cruised to a three-shot victory in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am for his first PGA Tour win since 2019.
Due to heavy wind, the tournament concluded on Monday, with Rose going into the final nine holes with a two-shot lead, and the 42-year-old picked up from where he left off on Sunday to conclude a victory that will have come as a huge relief following four winless years on the Tour since the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open.
After a par on the 10th Rose’s first birdie of the day came the hole after with a confident putt at the par 4. He didn’t need to wait long to begin further strengthening his hold at the top of the leaderboard. A par at the 12th was followed by back-to-back birdies as any potential late wobbles dissipated as he closed in on his 11th PGA Tour win.
Further pars followed on the next three holes to leave Rose on the verge of victory going into the last hole. As he strode to the 18th he had a luxurious three-shot lead over nearest challenger, Brendon Todd at 18 under. Still, there was a sign of what can go wrong as Peter Malnati, who finished tied for fourth, faced a shot off the rocks as he closed out his round.
As expected, though, it was a routine enough finish for Rose, who reached the green in two and rolled his long putt for birdie just beyond the hole before predictably closing out the win and leaving Todd and Brandon Wu tied for second.
It was no more than Rose deserved considering his performance over the tournament, which included a hole-in-one during the second round and two eagles over the 72 holes as he closed with rounds of 65 and 66 to build on rounds of 69 over the first two days.
The win will be all the sweeter for Rose as it now means he has earned a place at the 2023 Masters after his participation had been in doubt. He also moves into the top 10 of the FedEx Cup standings as a solid run of results, which began with a tie for 9th in November’s Houston Open, continues.
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